


Strawberries

by 31SecondsAlone



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-23
Updated: 2014-05-23
Packaged: 2018-01-26 06:48:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1678697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/31SecondsAlone/pseuds/31SecondsAlone
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Zayn has an allergy to strawberries, Niall has a cruel father and Zayn decides it's better that he goes to bed with swollen skin than the next day Niall comes to school with a black eye.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Strawberries

**Author's Note:**

> As always, I can take prompts. So, if you want something, you could leave it in my tumblr, "livinghardislikeweshouldtumblr".

Strawberries 

The only thing Zayn was expecting was to open the door, and pick the cookies he had ordered (and pay, of course). Nothing else. 

He didn't expected, first of all, that he was given strawberries. Well, they are not really strawberries like that, but you can still see the red fruit in the little box. That wouldn't really matter, he would accept them without a problem, if he wasn't allergic. 

But his "medical problems" start becoming less important, at when he sees the boy that brought him the strawberries, though he already knows him. Niall Horan. Blonde, blue-eyed... He is cute and goes to his school, it's impossible to not know him. 

It's also impossible, to ignore all the bruises he has. 

It isn't a secret for anybody that Niall's family isn't the most loving in all the world. Anyone can see it when they come to pick up Niall from school, when he gets low grades and he almost goes to the Arts classroom for the little bottle with a label that says "Suicide it's not the best" to drink it. When he comes to school with a reddish face, obviously for the punches.... No one says anything, but they all have a "theory", that's practically true. 

Niall offers him the box with the... Zayn supposes they are cupcakes. He had asked for cookies. 

"You asked for them, right?"

And yes, Niall sounds too nice, that's another thing about him. He's warm, like he actually knew Zayn, even though it's not really like that. Zayn is pretty much invisible in some way. Everyone knows he exists but no one thinks that's important. Niall is like that almost every time too, but maybe it's more that enough he knows his name. 

"Well.... Yeah."

And in some way, it's not really a lie. He didn't order them, he knows that if he eats that he will probably end up maybe even worse than Niall. 

But it's too late to tell him the truth. First of all, because he already said that he did ordered that. And second and way much more important, Zayn has been staring at least for three minutes at Niall's bruises. 

He has seen it. Niall is a perfectionist, he can't do anything wrong. But it's not because he doesn't want anything to go wrong, but because of what is going to happen to him if he does something wrong. He hasn't told Zayn or anyone else, but it's not hard to guess it. 

This time, Niall is wrong. But no one has to know that. 

The fact that no one will know that Niall got something wrong, the fact that Niall will get beat up tonight, it probably will all depend on Zayn. 

So he takes the box, pays for it and says thanks to Niall. 

Oh, and he doesn't close the door until he can't see Niall at all. But it's not because he likes him. Of course not.   
_____________________________________________________________

The next day, they don't say anything (they never do). But they do look at each other and Niall smiles, though he does that with everyone. 

That's not important to Zayn. The important thing is that it seems like Niall didn't get a new bruise, besides the ones he already had the last day. He is pretty sure no one knew about Niall's mistake.

That's when Zayn decides that ending up without his cookies and giving the complete box of strawberry cupcakes to his dogs totally worths it. 

Niall is okay. His dog had a really good dinner. And Zayn didn't have to eat something he is allergic to. Everyone ends up happy.   
_____________________________________________________________

A while after, Zayn decides that it's better for everyone that he goes to sleep with a swollen and slightly red skin, than Niall having to go to school the next day with a black eye. Or that it ends up bad enough so he can't even attend it. 

Because now Niall decides to get closer to him. He goes to his house and to his good luck, he bring a box of cupcakes with him, as a present. 

Strawberry cupcakes, of course. 

"I know you like them."

Niall is a perfectionist, yes, but that doesn't mean he always notices his mistakes. He now thinks all Zayn asks for are cupcakes. And if Zayn told him the truth... Niall is a good person, he would feel like shit if he knew he has been giving Zayn at least four times something he can't really eat. 

If Zayn told him, if he knew... There's a chance that Niall had already missed school more than one time. 

And he makes the mistake of inviting Niall to come in to his house. He can't keep giving the cupcakes to the dog, at least not for now. It's is going to end with heart problems. Besides it's bread, not something you can throw to the floor so discretely. 

So there's no other option, he has to eat them. They're six, and he can share half of them with Niall. And then there's the excuse of wanting to save two of them for his parents. 

That just leaves one little cupcake. Nothing too bad can happen, right? The truth is that Zayn doesn't know, he doesn't even remember if he had at least ate strawberries once before (he supposed he had), so he doesn't know the effects of certain quantities either. 

Anyway he eats it and it actually tastes good. It's like sour, but also sweet. 

Either way, in few words, it's delicious. 

Niall has always been the kind of person that can talk about everything and even chat with a rock, so he is in some way the one that makes Zayn talk. 

"You know? I always try to like, extend the time of everything I do, so I can get to my house late and obviously, spend less time on it. That's the reason I waste so much time packing all my thing when school ends. But I actually enjoy a lot being here. 

Zayn is quite surprised that Niall doesn't have so much problem with saying he doesn't like being at his own house. 

"Oh."

Niall stays for a while more after that. Not really because he doesn't want to go home for at least a while (though, that wouldn't be so bad for him), but because actually, like he said before, he likes spending his time with Zayn. 

After Niall goes, a while before going to sleep, Zayn notices how his skin is getting between red and pink, and slightly swollen. Besides, he stars feeling itchy. 

But it doesn't really matter to him. If Niall didn't got beat up that night, then he is completely sure it was worth it.   
_____________________________________________________________

Of course that time passes and many things change, though some oh them stay exactly the same. 

They both graduate, have careers... They make they future, as adults would say. 

Probably the thing that makes Niall happy the most about all of these it's that he doesn't have to live with his family anymore. He still loves them, he has always loved them. But now they don't have control of him anymore, he is finally completely free of making mistakes. 

And all the world can know. 

Zayn is the less changed of the two. Now he and Niall have something, yes, they now have a relationship and live together. 

Something else? He is still allergic to strawberries. 

Niall know it? Of course not. 

That stops being like that when, in a day like any other, a while after they both arrive home, Niall offers him a plate with cupcakes that are between red and pink. 

Strawberry cupcakes, of course. 

"Remember them? I do. I know you like them, I still remember."

And Zayn laughs, because know he can tell Niall the truth, without any of them getting hurt. 

"Niall? You may not know it, but I'm allergic to strawberries."

"Wait, what? Than means all this time I have been giving you the wrong order and watching you eat something that could kill you, and just staring without doing anything about it?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

"Why the fuck didn't you tell me anything?"

"Because I believed, and still believe, that it was better that I went to bed with reddish skin and a rash, than you having to go to school the next day with a back eye."

Niall doesn't say anything, but he smiles. He takes the plate with him and leaves the room. 

He leaves all the cupcakes near the dog's plate. 

"What are you doing? You could eat them, you like them."

"I know, but, how am I going to kiss you if I have in my mouth something that could possibly kill you."

That moment, Niall decides that is preferable that he ends up with no strawberry cupcakes than not kissing his boyfriend because of fear of hurting him.


End file.
